Jurgen Klinsmann's scorn for MLS can only hurt the U.S.

SAO PAULO – Jurgen Klinsmann earned the reputation of being ruthless around the goal as a player. As a coach, Klinsmann is still ruthless, just not around the net.

Instead, Klinsmann has set his sights on Major League Soccer, the current and former home of 15 players on the United States’ 23-man World Cup roster, criticizing the league and pushing players to seek opportunities in Europe.

Klinsmann took a jab at MLS and Landon Donovan in the now much-scrutinized New York Times interview published in early June.

“[Donovan] came back, and he was playing in MLS, and people say, ‘Oh, he’s playing well,’ but what does that really mean?” Klinsmann said. “This is where MLS hurts him. He was playing at 70 percent, 80 percent, and he was still dominant. That doesn’t help anyone.”

MLS commissioner Don Garber has heard the critiques of his league before. The remarks that it’s a second-tier option and incapable of competing with the top leagues in the world.

“You can’t both be responsible for the failure of the national team and then not be given credit for the success,” Garber told USA TODAY Sports on Friday.

The spine of Klinsmann’s starting lineup is currently playing in MLS. Four MLS players started against Ghana: Matt Besler, Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, and Clint Dempsey, while four other players in Klinsmann’s lineup began their careers in MLS.

MLS has been behind premier talent such as Tim Howard, whom Klinsmann called “one of the top five” goalkeepers in the world prior to the World Cup. Howard played six years in MLS before joining one of the biggest clubs on the planet, Manchester United.

Graham Zusi. (Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)

Yet Klinsmann, who was not made available at the team’s Friday media availability in Sao Paulo, has pushed players to look for opportunities beyond MLS and seek the challenges of Europe impressing that the rigor of an 11-month European season is better preparation for the World Cup.

“One of the really profound wrongs you can do is create this incentive where players feel like they have to leave [MLS] to get respect, that’s really messed up,” Real Salt Lake vice president and general manager Garth Lagerwey told USA TODAY Sports. “This is a good league and sometimes we don’t respect it enough. If players like Dempsey and Bradley are coming back, the message that sends to younger players should be that this is a very good league and you can develop here.”

Graham Zusi and Matt Besler were drafted by Sporting Kansas City after coming up through the NCAA ranks at Maryland and Notre Dame. Six years into their MLS careers, both played pivotal roles in the U.S. win over Ghana, with Zusi assisting on the game-winning goal. Meanwhile, though he hasn’t played, the Seattle Sounders’ DeAndre Yedlin became the first MLS homegrown player to make a World Cup roster.

Tim Howard (USA TODAY Sports)

U.S. soccer finds itself under perhaps the greatest scrutiny of its existence during the 2014 World Cup. Placed in the Group of Death, playing in prime time, run by a coach who has not shied from taking swings at the league a majority of his players came from, the importance of this World Cup goes beyond simply making it to the second round.

“This World Cup is really a referendum on MLS,” Lagerwey said. “If the U.S. gets out of the Group of Death, I think it could change many people’s opinions of the league.”

In its first trial, the U.S., and by extension MLS, shone. Dempsey’s goal and Zusi’s assist speaks volumes for the quality of the league.

“I think I felt both pride and vindication,” Garber said. “Pride that our players were able to perform on the world stage, vindication in that I think there is always a bit of holding MLS to a standard that is necessary but sometimes unfair.”

Jurgen Klinsmann has not shied from taking jabs at MLS. Yet, he’s winning with a roster predominantly made of current and (…)

I found this on FTW and wanted to share:
%link%
For more great sports stories ...
*visit For The Win: https://www.ftw.usatoday.com
*follow @ForTheWin: https://www.twitter.com/forthewin
*like FTW on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/usatodayftw